Allergies and Lake

So the results are in...drum roll please...K only has an allergy to eggs. Thank goodness since her preliminary blood test showed a lot more (even peanut). It is pretty severe but nothing we can't deal with. I know, eggs are in EVERYTHING. Keep in mind that I live in Southern CA, finding odd diet foods, not difficult. I found egg free mayo on my first try and I made my own soup today and found out that in baking, you can substitute a mixture of oil, water, and baking soda for eggs. We will have to make more food from scratch, but hey, it's healthier and cheaper in the end too.

M, on the other hand, was severely allergic to every single environmental allergy they tested. His back was still swollen today when he went to work. No wonder he hasn't stopped sneezing since we got here. They have him on three different prescriptions and will be getting shots soon. Here's another cool paycheck sent to our favorite drug store. :)

Em didn't get tested today since her teacher forgot a couple things she needed to complete the assessment. She has several big tests this week so if you could pray for her it would be appreciated.  First is her sleep study on Tuesday night (no more apnea, I hope) - and me on that one as I have to spend the night on the floor of a clinic room (good thing we have so much camping gear)...and her suck/swallow test is on Thursday. This is a lot of radiation exposure but since she is still choking and coughing when she eats, they think it is necessary. We also get to see the GI and her pediatrician on Monday.

I am still trying to catch up on vacation pics so I am just going to include them with the updates. At the lake. K obviously thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread (which she can still eat).

Em tried it too...

Um, not so much.  :)

Good buddies now

5 Months!

Emily Grace turned five months old while we were out in MN and we took some pics with the Fighting Sioux (University of North Dakota) blanket April made from a bunch of t-shirts from our old track and cross-country days.

So here's the update:

Her vision is developing well except that her right eye is crossing some so we are headed in next week to see if we need surgery now or if it can wait. Please pray for her in this as they are still optimistic about her vision...at the last appt, they said she is 'very visually aware for her age' and they think she might be able to read regular print (with her glasses). I don't know what this new development means for that but I am hoping it is no big deal.

Her eating is still very streaky. Usually the first feeding in a day is difficult for her and she does a whole lot of crying, choking and back arching. After that, sometimes she is good and sometimes she is hard to feed (pulls off often...like a baby who needs to burp, only she doesn't). It has been bad since we got back but she was great while we were on vacation.

She also still has major reflux issues. My two nick names for her are 'Throw up Queen' and 'Stinky'. When she gets older, I am going to have to buy all new shirts, but until then, she can continue to stain the ones I have. Recently, she has been throwing up more than normal but we go to the GI specialist on Monday so we will see what he says then. Just from appearances, she seems to be gaining weight better than before.

In every other way, she is doing awesome! We have a sleep study on Tuesday night and I am optimistic we will be able to give the apnea monitor back. I am watching her now and she is just rolling back and forth on her blanket...well, completely off it now and staring at her hands. She is very active and has started bearing weight on her feet, trying to sit, and moving on her belly. So, developmentally, she gets tested tomorrow and I am pretty sure she will be right on for her adjusted age.

Thank you for your prayers! Oh, I thought maybe it was just my perception that I feel like all we do is go to the dr but it turns out that in the 47 week days before we left on vacation, we had 41 drs appointments. Some of those were on the same day but most are a half hour away so it takes up most of the day. Speaking of, we are off to see the allergist to see if we can get some definitive answers on K. Have a great day!

9 years! Happy Anniversary to us! Looking back...

It all started with a boy and girl having their dream wedding on a beach in Santa Cruz, CA...

FYI, this is co-wrote by B and M. In our celebration of our anniversary, we pulled out some old photo albums of our first year. After busting a gut, laughing at ourselves, we thought we should do a collage for those of you who don't know us that well. Understand we have been married 9 years (gasp!), before digital pictures, so many of them are scans. I hope you enjoy laughing at us as much as we did. Boy we looked young!

Oh, and here is the quote in the front of our scrapbook from our first year:

"On the road of life its not where you go, but who you are with that makes the difference."

Yes, we hiked and backpacked on our honeymoon. Moose Lake, in Kings Canyon CA.



Backpacking around Redding. We lived here for the first 6 years of our marriage. We loved it here and long to get back.



When we got married, we lived in a two bedroom apartment, shared a car, lived on B's part time teacher's salary, thought we were wealthy beyond means, and traveled to a new place every weekend (seriously!) We traveled all over the US in our first year. Recap: We climbed Mt. Lassen, Mt. Shasta, Mt. Rainier, several mountains in Montana, traveled to Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and of course California.



We thought we should become models, LOL, posing on the beach in Arcata, CA.



After we summited, Mt. Lassen.



Snowboarding on Mt. Hood (in Oregon) with Jamie and Aunt Bec.



Mossbrae Falls, Dunsmuir, CA.



We eliminated one on one sports, early on in our marriage and stuck to team play.  We learned we were both too competitive to play against each other.  The health of our marriage was more important.



We climbed Mt. Shasta twice that first year.  This was a good friend of ours, Matt B.



Okay, first of all, if any of you know anything about mountaineering, you should immediately see several things wrong with this picture.  First we are wearing bike helmets (really?!) Second, look at that rope: where are the harnesses?  Third, look at those clothes.  Come on!  Fourth, where is the first aid pack and water?  Really, we can't believe we are still alive.  Did you know that the very next day, they had a complete white-out on top of the mountain?  Fortunately, we had already come back down.  Did you know the average number of people who die on this mountain is 3-5 a year?  Yeah, neither did we.  We were idiots.



Hiking in Glacier National Park, Montana.



Okay Erickson boys.  This was the Erickson reunion of 2002.  Please take a moment and laugh with us as we look upon the days of hair confusion (bleach blond?), matching shirts (really?).  Good times.

Thus ended our first year of marriage.  Since then, we developed a love for traveling and since we didn't have kids, it was easy.  We did a couple family trips to Colorado, summited the two highest peaks in Colorado, drove to Michigan, stood next to molten lava on the big island of Hawaii, hiked the Na'Pali coastline in Kauai, backpacked all over northern California, etc.  The following was our favorite trip of all time....



We hiked the Salcantay Route (Inca trail) to Macchu Pichu (in Peru).  This was a 5 day, 4 night hike over 60 miles.  And we arrived in Macchu Pichu at four in the morning, just in time to see the sun rise.



We spent several days in the Amazon rainforest.  This will forever and always be the most relaxing and peaceful place on earth.  We loved the rainforest.  We stayed in a place of no electricity, no running water, mosquito nets over our beds, used a bucket for a toilet, and had the time of our lives! 



In 2009, we had a new addition to our family.  Traveling became more complicated, but we still managed to go to Chichen Itza, in Mexico.

Now our family has grown more and the priorities have shifted a little, however, our love for traveling has not diminished.  We have vowed to take our girls all over the world, as soon as Em tells us its okay to go.  She was a trooper on her first big trip to Minnesota, so she should do just fine...



9 years later!....and loving each other more than ever.

Reunion

We made it back safely, but please pray for Em...she was throwing up most of the day yesterday and cried the rest of it. She hasn't been eating well and yet she was a pretty good trooper on the plane ride. I don't know what is up but I ran out of breast milk on the trip and she was on straight formula for these two days so I am hoping that is all it is.

Anyway, I am still catching up on pics from the vacation so here is Saturday...we had a track reunion for those who could make it and it was good times had by all.

We started by watching those who wanted to compete in the local triathlon...it starts with a swim...



...and then a bike...



...and then ends with a run. I love this pic cause the girl in the foreground is one of my teammates and the red blur in the background is another one...and the chase is on!

These two got first and second in their age group. Congrats guys!

And this is the four girls who finished the race.

Cheering them on from a much better view than mom's shoulders, that's for sure!



And then we went to the park for a meal and time to chat.  This is my coach from college.

That big guy in the basketball shirt was a 30 week preemie of one of my teammates.  He's two now and so big, it gives me great joy!

Eric was so awesome with K, it was the only reason I got to visit as much as I did.  Thanks big guy!



Coach brought some free Sioux gear for us so it seemed a little like Christmas too.







I didn't get pics of everyone, so I will find have to find them on FB or if any of you got pics I am missing, please email them to me.  Glad I got to see all of you!

More Fun in Fergus

The girls and I are still in Fergus and having a blast hanging out...or hanging on Mommy, whichever way you want to look at it.

These two girls were born 11 days apart...yep, I forget she's tiny until I see other babies her age.  :)  I have been told that babies here are so big, they have their own charts that are bigger than the national averages. Actually, I've heard that three times now for three different states...good thing we don't live there or she'd never get onto the charts!  :)  Everyone here calls her "Peanut" and I kind of like it so I might adopt it for her new nickname.



We also went to the fair.  K saw all kinds of animals for the first time...the kid barn had a horse, cow, donkey, pig, goat, sheep, lamb (which she was able to pet), rabbits, chickens, a peacock, parakeets, and ducks.  It was fun to finally show her the animals and let her hear their sound instead of just from books.  I didn't take pics though cause I had to hold her to see over the fences.

We let her ride the carousel once and after that she tried to break in for another ride.

Look who we ran into!  The newly married couple at the fair...

Yep, she slept like this.

Stopping to smell the flowers

April snapped this

Cheese curds...mmmmm...for those in CA, this is literally fried cheese.  Believe it or not, it is delicious!

Then we got stuck in a rain storm and K decided to touch the rain.

It was so much fun that...

She decided to taste the rain.

We thought her hair was curly before.

Then some more friends showed up to help with the girls.



I think I have a new post brewing in my mind about how different I am now than before all this, but for now, here is an abbreviated example.  I call it "Yep, I'm THAT person now.".  While we were stuck under the shelter because of the rain, someone decided it was a good time to light up a cigarette.  I smelled it, paused not half a second, marched right over to her and said, "Hi, my baby has bronchio pulmonary displasia.  It is a lung disease that makes it hard for her to breathe anyway, so could you please put that out and wait for the rain to stop before you have it.".  She looked at me in shock and I stood there still as a board, waiting for her response.  She finally agreed and took a huge suck before putting it out.  I walked away and realized I was shaking.  I took a deep breath, looked at April and said, "I can't believe I'm that person now.".  She just smiled and we turned to watch K play in the rain a little more.

These pics are April's parents.  I know them pretty well as they were at nearly every meet while we were in college and after my parents moved, we would crash at their pad.  So they came up to see the girls and it was a very nice visit.
Obsessed with clocks, K is pointing out his watch.


Teaching K to say "three".




Well, we will be home tomorrow and I will get pics of the track reunion and Emily's 5 month pics up then.  Have a great day!